
THE PAST AND PRESENT POSITION OF THE CHURCH, 



































THE PAST AND PRESENT POSITION OF THE CHURCH, 


AN 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED ON THE 


OCCASION OF LAYING THE CORNER-STONE 


OF 


CHRIST CHURCH, 


LEXINGTON, KY. 

\ ■ 

ON WEDNESDAY, THE 17TH OF MARCH, 1847, 

\ I 


BY THE 


REV. JAMES CRAIK, 

Rector of Christ Church, Louisville. 


Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast 
given me, that they may be one, as we are.—St. John, xvii. II. 


And there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd.—St. John, x. 16. 

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LEXINGTON: 

SCRUGHAM & DUNLOP, PRS. 

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fill, Io«.©rit fin 


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I 


Lexington, March 17th, 1847. 

Rev. and Dear Sir: 

Having had the pleasure of hearing 
the Address delivered by you, at the laying of the Corner-stone 
of Christ Church in this city, and believing that the interests 
of truth will be subserved by its circulation,— will you do us 
the favor of a copy of the same, for publication ? 

Respectfully, Yours, &c. 

JOHN WARD. 

G. G. MOORE. 

ED. F. BERKLEY. 

E. WARFIELD. 

J. W. HUNT. 

D. M. CRAIG. 

WM. IUCHO. 

THOMAS HUGGINS. 

Rev. James Craik. 




O Almighty God, who hast built 
thy Church upon the foundation 
of the Apostles and Prophets, 

Jesus Christ himself being the 

\ 

chief Corner-stone; Grant that, 

BY THE OPERATION OF THE HOLY 

Ghost, all Christians may be so 

JOINED TOGETHER IN UNITY OF SPI¬ 
RIT, AND IN THE BOND OF PEACE, 
THAT THEY MAY BE AN HOLY TEMPLE 
ACCEPTABLE UNTO TlIEE ; THROUGH 

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen . 


ADDRESS. 


We have been engaged in laying the Corner-stone of a 
house, to be dedicated to the worship and service of Almighty 
God. This house, when completed, is to be the ordinary 
place of assembly for those believers who constitute an 
organized portion of the body of Christ—of the Church of 
the living God. The necessity for this material structure, and 
for the organization of the believers who are to worship 
therein, is an abundant and present testimony, that, to the 
power of godliness, the form thereof is an indispensable con¬ 
dition. We know, unhappily, that the form of godliness can 
exist without the power, but we do not know, and cannot 
know, that the pow T er can exist without the form. Without 
places and times of divine worship, public assemblies, a 
ministry and sacraments, where would be the Christianity of 
this land? Without these, or the equivalents of these, where 
would be the religion of any people? A thought, a senti¬ 
ment, or a feeling, unembodied in some external form, must 
perish from among men. Had human nature been differently 
constituted, it might have pleased God, to have given to man 
no other revelation of himself, and of His will, than a spirit¬ 
ual impression made upon the individual soul. 

The mode of the Divine Revelation, 

But the actual revelation of divine truth has been, not 
according to this theory, but in accordance with the real con¬ 
dition of human nature; as man is a creature, compounded of 
body and soul, and bound to his fellow men by mutual wants 
and sympathies, in a social body. Hence, every revelation has 
been external; the truth being embodied by its divine author 
into words, and into symbolical representations, addressed 
to the mind, through the external senses. And every revela¬ 
tion has been committed to the care and keeping of men 


I 


[ 6 ] 

organized into a society, which is the kingdom of God upon 
earth. God, in giving the truth, gave with it, and as a part 
of inappropriate forms for its transmission, and perpetual 
preservation. Ever since the beginning of the Mosaic econ¬ 
omy, the truth has been embodied by the provision of its 
divine author, in a written historical record, in visible sacra¬ 
ments, and in the testimony of a divinely instituted Church. 
These three depositories of the truth, contain and convey 
the same truth, under that variety of form which is best calcu¬ 
lated to increase its impression, and to preserve it from the 
corrupting influences that are in the world. 

The Church’s Testimony to the Truth. 

Under the Christian dispensation the testimony of the 
Church upon the points of faith, which must be explicitly 
believed, in order to salvation, was given in the beginning, 
and authoritatively, by virtue of the Divine declaration—“He 
that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved.” It became, 
therefore, the very first duty of the Church, to determine, 
once for all, what were the things to be believed, which must 
be proposed to all men as terms of salvation, into the distinct 
profession of which they must be baptized. This duty the 
Universal Church performed, in the very first age of Chris¬ 
tianity, by imposing the articles of the Apostle’s Creed, as the 
things necessary to be believed of all men, in order to salva¬ 
tion. This Creed, is little more than an expansive and neces¬ 
sary explanation of the formula of baptism; giving the nature 
and offices of the persons represented by that awful and mys¬ 
terious name, into which we are baptized. 

The faith which was sufficient for salvation then, must 
have been sufficient ever since, for there has been no subse¬ 
quent publication of another way of life; and accordingly, this 
Apostle’s Creed, has been the Creed of the whole Christian 
Church, through all ages, down to the present time. It is true, 
that when men of subtle minds, who had departed from the 
faith, tried, nevertheless, to reconcile their fantasies with the 
ancient Creed, the whole Church came together and fortified 
the old faith, by expressions strongly negativing the new 


[ 7 ] 

errors. Hence the Nicene Creed. These two, constitute the 
Christian faith. The Church of Christ has adopted no other 
Creed. Any other Creed may be the property, or foundation 
of a sect, but it can have no relation to Christ’s Church. It is 
as a part of that divinely instituted body, the Universal Church 
of Christ, holding this One Faith of the One Church, whole 
and entire, maintaining inviolate the Apostolic ministry ap¬ 
pointed by our Saviour, Christ, and celebrating continually 
the very sacraments which He ordained, that we come here 
to-day, to lay the Corner-stone of a Christian house of prayer. 
The purpose for which we have assembled, furnishes an ap¬ 
propriate occasion for looking back upon some of the promi¬ 
nent incidents in the past history of the Church, which serve 
to illustrate the existing condition of things, and will enable 
us to appreciate our own position, anc^our duties as members 
of the Church. 

Historical Sketch of the Church. 

One principle of the providential government of the 
Church, will be made conspicuous by this review. That prin¬ 
ciple is, that, for wise purposes, God has appointed His Church 
on earth to be ever militant — ever struggling against malign 
and adverse influences. Wherever the truth of Christ is 
preached, there Anti-Christ has been permitted to unfurl his 
standard, in some form of determined and successful opposi¬ 
tion. The prophetic delineation of the Church, corresponding 
so perfectly in this particular, with her past history under 
every dispensation, furnishes abundant reason to suppose, that 
she w r ill be always and contemporaneously distressed, but 
joyful; overborne, but victorious; torn and convulsed by the 
powers of evil, but triumphing successively over them all. 
Her oppressions and distractions, are the just punishment of 
her sins—the needful discipline for her correction. Her per¬ 
petual progress, and her glorious triumphs, are the fruits of 
the grace of God, continually bestowed upon her. 

Pagan Persecution. 

Anti-Christ assumes every varied form which will best 
conduce, according to the changing modes of time and cir* 


[ 8 ] 

cumstance, to the successful prosecution of his destructive 
purpose. At the first beginnings of Christianity, he openly 
appeared as an external foe, seeking to crush the Church, 
and the truth committed to her, by fiery persecution. This 
earliest mode of attack, proved a signal failure. The blood 
of the martyrs was emphatically the seed of the Church, and 
the groans of tortured and dying Christians, strangely, but 
truly told, the expiring agonies of paganism. 

Arian Heresy. 

The next prominent assault against the truth, was an 
attempt, in an age of learning and intellectual refinement, to 
reason away the fundamental verities of the gospel of salva¬ 
tion. With the revived subtlety of the old heathen philoso¬ 
phies, this new system, taught, that God, reposing in uninter¬ 
rupted tranquility, had committed the government of the 
world to inferior ministries, to a created Christ, who was the 
legitimate object of human worship, and might, therefore, in 
all propriety, be termed God. How nearly successful this 
intellectual assault against the strong foundations of the faith, 
proved to be, is told by the humiliating recital of the contests 
and struggles of that day. But the Church recovered from 
this shock, as from the former, and the Catholic faith in the 
Holy Trinity, was but the more firmly established, and the 
more clearly expressed, by reason of this subtle attempt to 
refine and reason it away. 

Beginning of Superstition. 

Then again, and speedily, the form of assault upon the 
truth was changed. Leaving the Catholic Creeds undis¬ 
turbed, and permitting the Christian intellect to become dull 
for want of exercise, the effort of the enemy, now began to 
be, to sensualize Christianity, by gradual and silent changes of 
its ritual, in adroit conformity with certain natural feelings 
and affections of the human heart. This work of corruption, 
this vitiation of Christianity, by slow and insensible degrees, 
required a long time for its accomplishment. And because 
it did require time, and was so slowly, therefore, was it so 
successfully effected. Each new superstition, which a new 


[ 9 ] 

generation witnessed, was but the natural consequent of that 
previous one, with which, they and their fathers, had become 
familiarized. And, therefore, no one was startled, no one 
was alarmed. 

The first great result of the enervation of Christian prin¬ 
ciple and character, produced by these successful approaches 
of the enemy, was the submission of the Church to the usurp¬ 
ing ambition of the men, who held the chief Patriarchates of 
the Empire. The striving of this unholy ambition, occasioned 
the first great schism between the East and the West; and 
then came, as a punishment for this crime, the sqourge of 
Mahometan conquest, and oppression in the East, and the 
blasphemy of papal pride, and domination in the West. 

Rapidly, and almost unimpeded, now flowed on the 
tide of corruption, covering deeper and deeper beneath its 
foul deposits, the ancient faith, the primitive worship, and the 
manly virtue of Christians. The complete triumph of Anti- 
Christ, seemed to be approaching. But according to the 
prophecies which had gone before, in relation to her, the 
Church of God might, indeed, be cast down, degraded and 
oppressed, but she could not be destroyed. Out of every 
desolation, she was to “arise and shine,” to be “an eternal 
excellency,” and “a joy of many generations.” Isaiah, lx. 

Efforts at Beformation. 

For more than two hundred years before the era of the 
Reformation, the Spirit of the Lord had opened the eyes, and 
moved the hearts of wise and good men in every part of 
Europe, to see, and to mourn over the corruption of religion, 
and the gross superstitions of the people. Urgently, but 
unsuccessfully, they tried to stem the torrent. The evil 
seemed to have proceeded too far, and to have gathered too 
much strength, to be removed by the calm and quiet force 
of reason and truth. At last, the fury of a popular outbreak 
undertook to accomplish, in its own way, that which learn¬ 
ing and religion had vainly attempted. 

Do you think that the wily, untiring Anti-Christ would 
retreat before the storm, and patiently submit to the defeat 
2 


[ 10 ] 

which was inevitable? No; he boldly determines to direct 
the storm, which he could not succesfully oppose. Securing, 
under one organization, as many of his previous conquests 
over the truth, as possible, he now becomes the most violent 
of Reformers; and with withering sarcasm, he denounces 
together, the most sacred verities of the gospel, and the 
vile superstitions which himself had introduced. 

Results of the Continental Reformation. 

The corruption of previous ages, had been, to substitute 
superstition for devotion, and to change unity and authority, 
into slavery and despotism. Now the same Anti-Christ seeks 
to conduct the re-action from these corruptions, so that an 
unembodied spiritualism, or rationalism, shall take the place 
of devotion; licentiousness, be substituted for freedom; and 
sectarianism, for unity and authority. 

Sectarianism. 

The most prominent of the principles thus foisted in 
upon the reformation of religion, by the subtlety of Anti- 
Christ, was sectarianism. The period intervening between 
our times, and the Reformation, may be emphatically, called 
the era of sectarianism. The idea, or principle of sectarian¬ 
ism, is, that every theological opinion must be represented 
by a distinct and independent organization, called a Church. 
The various religious opinions, views and theories, in which 
any number of persons can cordially agree, are reduced into 
dogmatic propositions, and made thel^asis of an association 
of these persons into a society. All who will subscribe the 
dogmas, and submit to the government of this society, are 
members of the Church. All others, are rigorously excluded 
from this Church. This principle, you perceive, involves 
the continued division of Christians, into fragments, as nu¬ 
merous and as minute, as are the varied modes of human 
thought. 

Authority of the Church to Impose a Creed. 

We have seen that the Church, which the Saviour 
instituted, is based like these societies, upon the confession 
of certain dogmatic propositions, which constitute The Faith. 


[ 11 ] 

But in His Church, the immediate authority for those propo¬ 
sitions, was the consentient testimony, the concurrent agree¬ 
ment of the whole body of Christian people, as expressed in 
an authentic formula of faith, in the very beginning of Chris¬ 
tianity. 

The Church, being authorised and enjoined, to admit men 
into the way of salvation, by baptism, upon a profession of 
Faith, the duty was thus imperatively devolved upon her, of 
defining the terms of “ the Faith,” thus to be professed, as 
the condition of salvation. The decision which she accord¬ 
ingly made in the beginning, in pursuance of this divine 
appointment and command, comes to us, with the authority , 
and under the direct sanction of Him , who instituted the 
Church , and gave to her this command. The subsequent 
action of any body of persons, changing or reversing this 
original decision, can derive no authority from the institution 
and command of Christ, because, such subsequent action 
cannot be the authorised act of the One Church, which He 
instituted; all that portion of the Church which existed in 
the intervening period, being cut off from a participation in 
this subsequent action, by the very terms of the proposition. 

The principle of sectarianism, while it imitates the 
Church’s claim to authority, in the establishment of Articles 
of Faith, cuts itself off from the only foundation of that 
authority; for it allows a fraction of Christian people, at any 
time, to impose Articles of Faith, and to exclude from the 
communion of the Church, those who will not subscribe to 
these Articles. Of course, another fraction has the same 
right to set up other Articles. And thus rival and contend¬ 
ing bodies, take the pface of that One Church, which the 
Saviour instituted; and substitute for the unity and love, 
which ought to characterize the members of the one body of 
Christ, the emulation, variance and strife, which necessarily 
result, from the conflicting claims of these discordant asso¬ 
ciations. 

Sectarianism then assimilates itself to Christianity, in 
requiring as the basis of union between believers , the confession 


[ 12 ] 

of certain dogmatic propositions. The distinctive difference 
between the two, is, that Christianity acknowledges no au¬ 
thority, competent to impose these dogmas of Faith, but the 
Universal Church —the Church which has spoken with one 
voice, and propounded the same truths, in the first, and in 
every succeeding age. Sectarianism recognises as sufficient 
authority for the imposition of these dogmas, any body of 
people whatever, who choose to associate themselves to¬ 
gether, under the name, style, and title of a Christian Church. 

The Romish Sect. 

At the time of the Reformation, the Papal party, embod¬ 
ied the theological opinions of that party, and the prevailing 
corruptions of religion, into the doctrinal decisions of the 
Council of Trent; and subsequently, into the Creed of Pope 
Pius the JVth, and these together, constitute the dogmatic 
symbol of the Romish sect. The articles of this sectarian 
creed, form the basis of union between the members of this 
sect; and Romanists, hold no Christian communion, with those 
who do not subscribe to those articles. They exclude all 
such persons, no matter how truly they believe the Christian 
symbol, from their Church. The sect principle, as thus held 
by the Papal connection, and the wretched superstitions em¬ 
bodied in that association, and confounded with the Faith, 
have ever been a reeking hot-bed of infidelity and atheism, 
in the countries where the power of this association is estab¬ 
lished. This was wonderfully illustrated, when a nation, 
professedly and seemingly Christian, was found to be, almost 
in a moment, when the government pressure from above was 
taken off, avowedly a nation of atheists, — a terrific sight, 
which the fair heavens never looked upon before. 

Sectarianism among the Reformers, on the Continent of Europe, 

The Continental Reformers were free enough from the 
corruptions, which were thus embodied into the symbol of 
the Roman sect. But their full adoption of the sect princi¬ 
ple,— the principle of continual and infinite subdivision, the 
principle of vexatious, harassing, and perpetual conflict 
between Christians,— has been evil and punishment enough 


I 13 ] 

for them. With each changing mode of human thought and 
feeling, it has produced a fresh harvest of new and rival asso¬ 
ciations, whose unmitigated hostility, has tended to bring into 
doubt and discredit, the whole system of revealed truth. 

Presence of Christ with His Church. 

Although the Christian principle, and the sect principle, 
are so widely variant, yet in their practical operation, they do 
not necessarily destroy each other. If they did, the triumph 
of Anti-Christ in the general prevalence of the sect principle, 
would have been much more signal and disastrous than it 
really was. Let us not exaggerate the triumphs of the 
enemy. The fact is, that these two principles do often co¬ 
exist, and operate, at the same time, upon the same persons. 
You can very well understand how a man can be a member 
of the Colonization society, and of the Church, at the same 
time. He became a member of the Colonization society, by 
submission to the articles of that particular association. He be¬ 
came a member of the Church, by faith in the Christian Creed, 
and by baptism. So, a man may be a member of one of 
these sect organizations, and although he is not thereby , a 
member of Christ’s Church, yet by virtue of his faith in the 
Christian Creed, and of his proper baptism in that faith, he 
may be a true and devout member of the Universal Church. 
Thus, the Romish sect is founded upon twelve articles of 
faith, very different from the true faith of the Christian Church: 
yet the members of that sect, are likewise members, for the 
most part, by faith and baptism, of the Church of Christ, es¬ 
tablished in their respective countries—Italy, France, Spain, 
&c.—all which branches of the Church, still retain the Christ¬ 
ian Creed , and Christian Baptism . And during all the period 
which we have been reviewing, and in which we have seen 
some of the successful devices of Anti-Christ, to impair the 
power of the truth, Christ the Saviour, has never forsaken 
His people. In the times of deepest, and most wide spread 
corruption, faith and piety still flourished in the earth; and 
the sublimest fruits of faith were oftentimes exhibited in the 
holy, self-sacrificing lives of the soldiers of the Cross. I be- 


[ 14 ] 

lievc that there is hardly a Christian sect in existence, which 
cannot show, in the history of some of its members, the in¬ 
destructible energy of the blessed, life-giving truth of the 
Gospel, in spite of all the errors with which that truth is 
associated. 

The Church in England, and in the United States. 

Let us turn now, for a moment, to some incidents con¬ 
nected with the history of the Church in our own land. By 
the Providence of God, the Reformation in England has been 
conducted, with a careful avoidance of the sect principle. 
The church there, simply reformed herself upon the basis of the 
old Catholic Creed, the apostolic ministry, and the Christian 
sacraments. The sect principle was, indeed, subsequently 
introduced into England, from the continent, in all its forms— 
Romish and L Calvanistic, and produced there its accus¬ 
tomed evil fruits. But in the struggle which ensued, the 
Church finally prevailed. The civil and religious distractions 
of this period, left the Church, not only in alliance with the 
State, but in bondage to it. While the fanaticism of that centu¬ 
ry of rage and madness, by a natural re-action, weakened the 
feeling, and impaired the influence of religion, in and over the 
minds of the people. Such was the state of things, during 
the progress of the settlement of this country. Although 
religion continued to be regarded as of primary importance, 
a thing never to be left out in the Constitution of a State, 
and in the formation of society, yet it was a religion modi¬ 
fied, and lowered, and shorn of much of its power by these 
unhappy circumstances. 

The Church, with her faith, her sacraments, and a part of 
her ministry, was sent across the waters, and every where 
substantial edifices, for public worship, were erected, and 
competent provision made for the maintenance of all the 
decencies, and proprieties of religion. And, doubtless, the 
influence of these institutions, defective as they were, was 
most benign and salutary, and gave to the age of the revo¬ 
lution its noble character, and its deep seated principles; the 
force and momentum of which, have come down with grad- 


[ 15 ] 

ually decreasing power to our own day. But with these in¬ 
stitutions, and with their proper effect and influence, was 
mingled the fatal leaven of secularly, and of a human, skep¬ 
tical philosophy. 

The ministry of the Church was of divine institution, 
and from the appointment of God, it derived all its powers, 
and all its capacities for good. That ministry, in its original 
constitution, was an entirety, a unit, a single whole, com¬ 
posed of many individuals. The Church of Christ in Eng¬ 
land, retained this divine institution in its integrity. But the 
rulers of the State, did not see the use of compliance with 
this appointment of God, in the new planting of the Church 
in America. They undertook to dispense with a part, and 
the most essential part of that divine institution, because it 
seemed to them, and to their philosophy, that what they re¬ 
tained was sufficient for the purpose! It is true, that the 
Episcopate, was nominally and in contemplation of law, con¬ 
tinued as a part of the constitution of the Church in this 
country, by making the whole of the North American Colo¬ 
nies a part of the diocess of London. But this, for its real 
practical influence, was little better, than a mockery of the 
divine institution. The consequences were most deplorable. 
Religion, we have said, was at a low ebb in the Church, and 
among the dissenters. From out of such materials, the min¬ 
istry for this country was to be provided, and, as a matter of 
course, that ministry consisted, for the most part, of the re¬ 
fuse of the English Clergy; of those who, unable to obtain a 
living at home, consented to go into banishment in the Colo¬ 
nies. To this rule there were, however, many high and hon¬ 
orable exceptions. What could have been expected from 
such a Clergy, under such circumstances, without Episcopal 
supervision, without any sort of control, but that public opin¬ 
ion which they were to form, and which could only receive 
its tone and character from themselves? What could have 
been expected, but the looseness of manners, and the cold¬ 
ness and vapidness of doctrine, which history and tradition tell 
us, were characteristic of so large a proportion of the clergy? 


[ 10 ] 

The Effects of the Revolution upon Religion. 

Such was the unhappy condition of the Church, at the 
period of the revolution. Then unfortunately identified with 
the State on account of the previous connection, the con¬ 
juncture was adroitly seized by her adversaries, to effect her 
entire prostration. Many of the Clergy deserted their posts, 
and fled from the storm. A few remained, feebly struggling 
against the adverse influences which opposed their useful¬ 
ness. But these gradually sunk away, leaving in Virginia, 
except in a few favored spots, no vestige of the Church, which 
had once been planted in all the length and breadth of the 
land, but her dilapidated buildings—her ruined and desecrated 
temples. 

Religion, thus deprived of her appointed guardian, the 
constituted ground and pillar of the truth, and abandoned to 
the sole nurture of the self-constituted societies, whose name 
was legion, suffered a melancholy deterioration. One early 
and unhappy consequence, was the entire loss among our 
people, of the conception of the Church. Men learned to 
think of the Church, not as one divine institution for the 
salvation of men, but as a human sect, or a multiple of dis¬ 
cordant sects. 

Progress of Infidelity after the depression of the Church. 

Religion was now in the guardianship, not of the one 
body of believers, instituted and organized by our Lord, 
but of numerous rival and opposing organizations, each claim¬ 
ing to be the exclusive possessor of the truth. Men, finding 
that truth was resolved into individual fancy and opinion, 
reduced into the dogma of a party, and that the saving and 
eternal verities of Christianity, were represented to be as 
various as the varieties of the human mind, naturally enough 
conceived that they had the same right to speculate, and to 
theorize, and to form systems, as any of the independent 
bodies around them. And seeing, too, that every man who 
had zeal and fervor enough to enlist to himself a party, claim¬ 
ed to have the right to be the founder of a Church, it was only 
a carrying out of the same idea, for each one of those who 
did not feel the same proselyting propensity, to conclude, 


t 17 ] 

that, at least, he had the right to be a Church to himself; and 
that he ought to believe, and to practice, and to worship, in 
the solitariness of his own sole and peculiar system. Thou¬ 
sands of the intelligent minds of Virginia, and of the South, 
acted upon this idea. One most distinguished individual, 
was at the pains to compile, and write out for himself, the 
true Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, carefully selected, 
according to his notions of what the truth ought to be , from the 
actual writings of the Evangelists. Few gave to the matter so 
much attention, but they were content to let the sects pursue 
and act upon, each its own leading idea, while they desired 
to be equally unmolested, in acting upon the notion, that 
each man might have a religion of his own, and be a Church 
to himself. In the mean time, the flood of French revolu¬ 
tionary Atheism came in, and there was no sufficient barrier 
to oppose it. For the divinely constituted guardian, and 
defender of the faith, was despised and trodden under foot of 
men; and the self-constituted associations which professed 
the religion of the Bible, were powerless to withstand, or to 
beat back the torrent. 

But think not, my friends, that this lamentable apostacy 
was universal. God had not abandoned His afflicted Church 
in America. That Church, although prostrate and down¬ 
trodden, still survived, even in the high places of the land. 
And by this severe discipline, we may trust, that she was 
the better prepared for a future career of active and efficient 
service. 

Religion in Kentucky. 

During all the later period, the incidents of which we 
have been reviewing, Kentucky was in process of settlement, 
principally from Virginia. And if the good qualities of the 
mother State, were more fully and perfectly developed here, 
on account of the wider and freer field in which they were 
permitted to expand, it is quite as certain, that the faults and 
follies of the parent race, did not perish by the transplanta¬ 
tion. The same supremacy of individual opinion, the same 
oblivion of the true nature and properties of the Church— 
the Spouse of Christ—the same exhibitions of sectarian hate, 


[ IS ] 

and violence, and fanaticism, were presented here, as there. 
And here, as there, the more intelligent and influential por¬ 
tion of society, unable, or unwilling to recognize the divine 
authority of a religion thus proposed to them , kept themselves 
aloof, altogether, from the profession of Christianity. They 
and their children, lived and died, as if Christianity were 
strange and foreign to them—as if it were a mere thing of 
party—the creature of a sect —instead of the eternal truth of 
God, designed for mankind, and committed to a Church, to 
be composed of all the nations of the earth! 

But a brighter day has dawned. The Bride, the Lamb’s 
wife, has put on her beautiful apparel, and gone forth in the 
majesty of her strength and loveliness. A few gifted spirits 
in Virginia, sons of the Church—Laity and Clergy—moved 
by the Holy Ghost, commenced this great and glorious work. 
A Lee, a Marshall, a Thornton, and a Mercer, the now saint¬ 
ed Moore, the untiring and devoted Meade—the leaders of a 
little band, went forth in the strength of God, armed with 
the panoply of heaven; and the subsequent progress of our 
Zion, has been from conquest to conquest. Infidelity, once 
the boast, and the characteristic of the educated men of Vir¬ 
ginia, now hides her diminished head, and burrows in dark¬ 
ness, down in the lowest, and basest, and most vicious portion 
of society; while by the intelligent, the strong, and the lead¬ 
ing minds of the country, religion is felt and owned to be the 
necessary foundation of the social edifice, and the only prin¬ 
ciple which can give true dignity and excellence to individual 
character. 

The same glorious change of feeling and opinion, like 
the blight which preceded it, is advancing Westward. Hith¬ 
erto, indeed, but little has been effected. But this little, is 
the hardest part of the work, to be accomplished. It is the 
beginning, and that beginning promises a happy, and a 
blessed consummation. Honor to the noble spirits, by whose 
patience, and toil, and struggles, this beginning has been 
made. They have provided the opportunity, by which the 
Church may proclaim the inestimable truths of her own exist¬ 
ence, and of the precious treasures which have been entrusted 


t 19 ] 

to her keeping. And when the active, strong, vigorous West¬ 
ern mind shall once be quickened, and aroused to apprehend, 
and to take firm hold of these truths, great are the results 
which may be looked for. 

The Present Position of the Ohurch. 

Hitherto, we have been contemplating the Past. But if 
we would be fully prepared for the efficient performance of 
our own duties, in this, our day, we must look carefully to 
the Present. The enemy of God, and of the truth, ever 
watchful of the signs of the times, is just beginning now, to 
change the form of his opposition to the truth, by adapting 
that opposition, to the latest mode of human feeling. 

. Popular Modes of Feeling. 

The era of sectarianism, which we have been so long 
surveying, has nearly closed. The principle that every man 
who has a novel opinion, must found a Church, to be the 
representative of that opinion, has worked itself out to a 
reductio ad absurdum. It is dying at the root. The stur¬ 
dier branches which sprung from that root, may stand a long 
time, but the life is passing out of them. There is a general 
consciousness of this. Men professing to be Christians, to 
belong to a universal brotherhood, cannot remain in the 
isolation, to which the sect principle has reduced them. The 
instincts of a Christian nature, cause them to yearn for com¬ 
munion, with the whole family of the redeemed. Hence, al¬ 
though men do not think of dissolving the associations, which 
have sprung out of this sect principle, yet they are trying, in 
every way, by sinking their differences, and by factitious 
unions of all sorts, to nullify the principle itself, and to neu¬ 
tralize its practical operation. It is in this aspect, that the 
celebrated meeting in London, last Fall, called “the Evangel¬ 
ical Alliance,” becomes a prominent symptom of the times in 
which we live. The suggestion, and the formation of that 
alliance, is a proof, that its members have seen that the sect 
principle, in which once they believed and trusted, is a mis¬ 
take : and yet that they do not, or will not see, how the mis¬ 
take should be corrected. There is, indeed, one very simple, • 
plain, and obvious method of correctiug the error; and that 


[ 20 ] 

is, by returning to the Unity of the Church , from which, they 
have been broken off, by the operation of the sect principle. 
It is, to go back to that original basis of union , the Faith once 
delivered to the Saints, the Faith professed always, every 
where, and by all; and to the one primitive organization , es¬ 
tablished upon the One Faith, by Him, who is the Author of 
the Faith, and the Founder of the Church. By the Provi¬ 
dence of God, it has been ordered, that the Reformation in 
England, should be so conducted, that one large and extend¬ 
ing branch of the Church, should retain and witness to the 
nations, this ancient, primitive, and divinely appointed basis 
of union, in all its integrity, and in all its purity and sim¬ 
plicity. 

Efforts of Anti-Christ. 

But to suppose that this great movement of the public 
mind, to which we have referred, would be permitted, quietly 
to take this right and reasonable direction, would be equiva¬ 
lent to the supposition, that Anti-Christ, had ceased to be the 
vigilant, and wily enemy of the truth. Already he has seized 
upon the living spirit of the age, and is directing it, as far as 
possible, to the injury of the truth. 

A passion for Catholicity, a yearning for a universal bro¬ 
therhood of man, is the present mode of human feeling—the 
re-action from the old, narrow, bitter, rancourous sect princi¬ 
ple, of many past ages. And it is a glorious mode of feeling, 
w r hich finds its true expression , and its imperishable embodi¬ 
ment , in that divinely appointed union of men in the body of 
Christ, in the Church of God, founded upon the pure, and 
simple, and comprehensive Faith, which that Church has 
ever held, and called her Creed. 

But such is not the expression, and the embodiment of 
this noble feeling, to which Anti-Christ will direct the minds 
of men. The use which he will make of this feeling, you 
may see plainly indicated, in the facts which are now tran¬ 
spiring in the world. The Ronge movement in Germany, 
springing out of the bosom of the Roman Schism:—Fourrier- 
ism, coming forth as the expression of the cultivated, and refin¬ 
ed infidelity of France:— the sudden rise, and the successful 


[ 21 ] 

progress in our own country, of a party which denounces a 
Creed, and yet calls itself a Church: — the popular sen¬ 
timent, which makes sincerity a sufficient substitute for truth: 
—all these things point to one, and the same conclusion; 
viz: the establishment of a new, Universal Church, calling 
itself Christian; and founded, not even upon the minimum of 
faith , but upon a mere sentiment! You no longer hear from 
continental Europe, now, of opposition to Christianity. Oh 
no! — European infidelity has been self baptized. It names 
itself Christian! and Michelet, and Sue, and Ronge, are the 
apostles, and ministers of the new Church. That new Christ¬ 
ian Church, is to be a universal brotherhood, in which be¬ 
nevolence is to be the only recognized principle; which is to 
have no faith, no sacraments, no divine authority. Within 
its capacious enclosure, you may believe as much, or as little 
as you please, in Christ, or in Mohammed, in one God, or in 
many Gods, or in no God ! 

Liberalism, benevolence, fraternization, are to be the 
only symbols of the new Church. This, they say, is the sum 
and substance of true religion; this is genuine Christianity; 
this is the sublimated essence of that divine religion, which 
Jesus taught, in terms adapted to an unenlightened age of 
the world. The profound moral analysis of modern illumi¬ 
nation, having discovered and extracted the pure essence, 
the former gross medium, now reduced to be the mere resi¬ 
duum of this valuable analytical method, is thrown in smi¬ 
ling contempt, to the ancient Church, as its only possession! 

This latest development of Anti-Christ, this newest mode 
of infidelity, of opposition to the truth, industriously seeks to 
avail itself of each prominent benevolent association of the 
day, as the vehicle, for the transmission of this corrupt phi¬ 
losophy, and as the instrument for the practical application of 
this new method of putting down the religion of Jesus Christ. 

General Summary. 

We are now enabled to see what are the existing forms 
of enmity to the truth, which prevail in our own day, and 
which we must be prepared to encounter. 

The old sect principle, dividing, and subdividing, and 


[ 22 ] 

frittering away in senseless contests with each other, the 
strength of those, who should be united as one embattled 
host against the powers of evil—this mischievous principle, 
we have seen to be in the last stage of its active life. Some 
of the forms which this principle has developed, will doubt¬ 
less long remain to be sources of annoyance, and unmeaning 
difficulties in the way of those, who are accidentally attach¬ 
ed to them, and who are really acting upon other and very 
different principles. But the smaller and looser bodies, 
which have sprung up from this principle, will all gradually 
be absorbed, either into some more popular and comprehen¬ 
sive form of error, or into that indestructible body, which 
Christ the Saviour founded, and ordained to be the ever 
during pillar and ground of the truth. 

There are two general and entirely opposite principles, 
upon which the truth has always been attacked. These are: 
1. Superstition. 2. Rationalism, or Infidelity. The enemy 
of the truth has always been in the field, in various embodi¬ 
ments of botli of these principles. And with the two, he 
has hemmed in the truth always, on every side. He cor¬ 
rupted the early Patriarchal religion with superstition; and 
so, gave new occasion and force to infidelity. Precisely the 
same policy he pursued towards the Christian religion, and 
partially, with the same results. The Reformation came and 
arrested the process. And then, as we have seen, the super¬ 
stitions previously introduced , were embodied into the dogmatic 
symbol of the sect organization , which is in subjection to the 
Bishop of Rome. This organization being extensive, very 
perfect, and in all respects, admirably contrived for effi¬ 
ciency of action, will, I doubt not, be maintained as long as 
Anti-Christ has a place on the earth, as the most effective 
instrumentality, for using against the truth, the power of 
superstition. 

But up to our own day, the opposite principle, Rational¬ 
ism— Infidelity — has never been organized. It has always 
been loose and uncombined, floating about in the various 
ranks of life. Its only temple has been the human heart, and 
its nearest approach to organization, some club, or Tom 


L 23 ] 

Paine society, meeting at night in a tippling-house. But 
now, in our age, this principle too, is about to be embodied 
into an external, and most comprehensive organization. 
Henceforth, infidelity will call itself Christian, and will 
establish for itself a Church — the Church for mankind — 
extending itself, under different names, into all quarters of 
the Globe. Already, to its captivating watchwords, “ free¬ 
dom of thought and action,”—“ brotherhood of man, universal 
benevolence,” it has added the sterner accents, “ down with 
all bigotry, away with all dogmas, trample upon your creeds, 
dissolve your partial organizations — they are hateful to God, 
they are inimical to man-—come with us.” 

Thus it is, my brethren, that the Church of God, and 
the truth of God, are to be hemmed in by the well disciplined 
forces of Anti-Christ on either side. Assailed on the one 
hand, by Superstition, embodied into the most perfect, com¬ 
pact and effective organization, which the world has ever 
seen; and on the other, by Infidelity, now for the first 
time, about to be embodied into one grand, comprehensive, 
world-pervading association, calling itself the true Christian 
Church, and displaying upon its banners, the alluring, but 
deceptive watch-words — love, freedom, brotherhood! 

Grant us, O Father, to be the faithful servants and subjects 
of Tiiy Universal Kingdom ; — the true members of that 
body of Christ the Saviour, which confesses One Lord, 
One Faith, One Baptism. 

It is your high privilege, my brethren, to proclaim anew, 
in this land, the almost forgotten truth, that such an Univer¬ 
sal Kingdom , God has established on the earth, in the which 
all men, of all nations, may find a refuge and a home; and in 
which, no longer striving to attain a slavish, and an impracti¬ 
cable uniformity of thought and opinion, all men may be¬ 
lieve and confess the same saving truths, of the Gospel; and 
love one another , as He, the Saviour, gave us commandment; 
and as becometh those, who are very members incorporate in 
the mystical body of Him, who came to redeem, and to save 
the whole world. 




